LOOKING AHEAD

A look at what’s happening around the majors Friday:

SECOND CITY SKIDS: The host White Sox and Cubs hope to reverse recent slides when they meet this weekend at Guaranteed Rate Field before opening the playoffs.

The Chisox have lost five in a row, dropping them out of the AL Central lead and one game behind Minnesota. Rookie outfielder Luis Robert, stuck in an 0-for-28 slump, wasn’t in the lineup Thursday at Cleveland. The 23-year-old Cuban leads all rookies with 30 RBIs and is tied for first with 11 homers.

“The reality is you have a young man coming into the big leagues, and no matter how talented you are, you hit a wall,” manager Rick Renteria said. “Nobody wants to see the wall be hit, but you hit a wall.”

The NL Central-leading Cubs have a magic number of two for clinching the division. They’ve lost five of six, scoring two or fewer runs in each of those losses.

Cubs ace Yu Darvish (7-3, 2.22 ERA) starts against Dylan Cease (5-3, 3.52).

MAXED OUT: Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer makes his final start of the season, taking on the Mets at Nationals Park. A win would let Scherzer (4-4, 3.67) finish with a winning record for the 11th straight season, tying Dodgers lefty Clayton Kershaw for the longest active such streak.

Washington was eliminated from postseason contention this week, a year after winning the championship. Manager Dave Martinez intends to point out to his players what they’ve accomplished in the recent past.

“I’ll remind them that other than not making the playoffs this year, we did win the World Series in 2019,” Martinez said. “That means a lot. That doesn’t go away. Let’s come back in 2021 and do it again.”